How to manage action items and keep them moving

Action items are the short, concrete to-dos that come out of meetings and plans: one owner, one due date, done in days rather than a quarter. Clarion collects them in one list, whether they were typed in directly, captured in a sync, or created from a milestone or challenge.

Add an action item

1. Click Action Items in the sidebar.
2. In the row at the top, type the to-do in New action item….
3. Optionally pick an owner (it starts as Unassigned) and a due date.
4. Press Enter or click Add.

New items are added to the team you’re currently viewing. You can also add one from anywhere with Quick Add in the sidebar.

Work the list

Each row shows a checkbox, the title, any linked milestone or challenge, the owner, and the due date. Overdue dates are shown in red.

• Complete an item: tick its checkbox. It moves to the Completed list with the date it was done, and a message offers Undo for a few seconds.
• Edit the title: click it, type, and press Enter or click away.
• Change the owner or due date: click them in the row.
• Reopen a completed item: untick it, or choose Reopen from its More actions (⋯) menu.
• Delete: click the trash icon at the end of the row.

Filter and sort

Use the controls at the top of the page:

• Assignee: All Assignees, Unassigned, or one person.
• Sort: Manual order, Name, Assignee or Due date. When sorting by due date, items without one go last.
• Status: Open, Completed, or All.
• Team: All Teams you belong to, or one team.

Put items in order

With All Assignees and Manual order selected, drag a row by its handle to reorder the open list. The More actions menu also has Move to top and Move to bottom. The order is saved for everyone.

Action items from milestone subtasks

When you add a subtask to a milestone, Clarion creates a linked action item for it automatically. It is assigned to the milestone’s owner and carries the subtask’s due date. The row shows the milestone’s name, and clicking it opens the milestone.

The two stay in step:

• Completing or reopening the action item does the same to the subtask, and the other way round.
• Renaming it or changing its due date in either place updates both.
• Deleting the action item deletes the subtask, and deleting the subtask deletes the action item.

This means a milestone owner can work entirely from the Action Items list, and the milestone’s progress still updates.

Action items and challenges

Action items and challenges link in both directions:

• In a challenge’s Challenge Details panel, type into Add an action item… to create next steps linked to it.
• If an action item turns out to be a bigger problem, choose Create challenge from its More actions menu. The new challenge copies the item’s title and owner, and the row gets a Challenge link. See Raise a challenge.

In the sync

The Action Items step of a live sync shows the same list, filtered to the sync’s team, with the same add, complete and edit controls. If something raised there is bigger than a to-do, use the milestone shortcut below the list to create a milestone for the team instead.

For habits that stop the list from growing stale, read how to keep action items moving.